Jeep leads list of 25 most 'patriotic' brands

Jul. 2, 2013
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The 1963 Jeep Wagoneer. / DaimlerChrysler Wieck

by Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY

by Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY

It's the brand known for winning World War II, for providing reliable transportation for American GI's under the toughest conditions for generations. And lately, it has come to symbolize American ruggedness and a sense of adventure.

So perhaps it's appropriate that Chrysler Group's Jeep brand is named in a survey as the most patriotic brand from 197 famous brand names in 35 categories.

Heck, Jeep even beat out Coca-Cola, Levi's, Harley-Davidson and Disney in the top 25.

The survey of 4,500 consumers was conducted by a New York-based branding researching firm, Brand Keys, with the results released just in time for the Fourth of July holiday, the most patriotic day off of them all.

Jeep was one of only two auto brands in the Top 25. The other was Ford, in 16th place. Interestingly, no General Motors brands are on the list, including Chevrolet, which used to heavily hit patriotic American themes in its ads.

Jeep topped all others with a score of 98 out of 100 on a scale representing consumers' emotional engagement expectations, according to Brand Keys.

"As marketers traditionally operate on the Independence Day theory that a patriotic, flag-waving call-to-emotion will motivate consumers to behave more positively toward their brands, we wanted to see which brands actually led when it came to that particular value," says Robert Passikoff, president of Brand Keys, in a statement.

He says having consumers view a brand as patriotic goes way beyond trying to create flag-waving ads. It's ingrained - "more a question of whether that value is seen to part of the brand's equity, whether it's truly acknowledged on a deeply emotional and engaging basis."